Protection
by that.clace.life
Summary: Jace Herondale is the best Shadowhunter in the Clave. Well, best guy shadowhunter. Clary Fray is even better. What happens when they are both assigned to a mission to protect Emma Carstairs- an orphaned Shadowhunter who doesn't know what she is? AUish. Simon and Clary are still best friends. Clace, Malec, and Sizzy.
1. Chapter 1

Clary POV

"Yes Simon, we are still on for dinner tonight," I respond over the phone to my best friend of 25 years. "You said you were making pasta! I have a full scheduel at work today, and don't have time to make dinner tonight." I thank the barista quietly as I grab my coffee and walk out of the coffee shop, still on the phone with Simon.

"_Fine. I'll buy the ingredients for pasta. And make dinner. And clean my apartment. And go to work. I totally have time for all of that," _he replies sarcastically.

"Thanks Simon! Have a great day! Love you!"

"_Clary I was kidding I can't-"_ but I hang up the phone before he could finish.

I hail a taxi and hop in, telling the driver to go the Old Abandoned Church on 75th Street. He gives me a strange look, but I'm used to it. I close my eyes and lean back in my seat as I think about the phone call I got early this morning from the Consul.

_"Miss Fray! We need you in Idris ASAP! John Carstairs has escaped prison! I'll give you all the details when you get here but please hurry!"_

So of course, I got ready quickly, called Magnus Bane to make a portal to Idris, got my early morning coffee, and headed to my destination to meet the warlock. I just can't believe John Carstairs escaped the Silent City. I hope the Silent Brothers are okay.

The taxi arrives at my specified destination, and I pay him before he drives off. Magnus- the High Warlock of Brooklyn- is sitting on the ground, and he seems to be making a snail grow rhinetones and sparkles. I clear my throat amusedly, and he stand up to greet me.

As always, he is grinning, and pulls me into a hug. "It's been far too long Clarissa."

I chuckle. "Magnus, you saw me last week."

His smile brightens. "But my dear, that is a long time to go without seeing your beautiful face." He winked, but I know it means nothing. Magnus was the one to take care of me since I was 14- when my parents were murdered. He is like a father figure to me.

"A charmer as always Magnus. Now, I would love to talk, and maybe we can later, but right now, I need to get to Idris quickly."

"I understand my dear," he replies wistfully. He draws the outline of a portal, murmurs a few words, and a doorway filled with swirling lines appears. "Here you go Clarissa. Travel safely."

I smile softly, wave goodbye, and step through the portal. It is as usual: the world around me spins, my stomach churns, and then I am landing on solid ground, and blinking to regain focus.

I am standing right outside the Hall of Accords, and I silently thank Magnus for not making me walk a bunch. I am tired enough already, having forgotten my coffee back at the church.

I sigh as I step into the Hall, and head into the Consul's office. I do a double take as I see a golden haired boy sitting in my usual seat. Oh great. _Him_.

Jace POV

"Izzy, I told you, I can't make it to dinner tonight. I have a huge meeting with the Consul, and then I still have my regular work to do. It's not like you need me there-"

"I do too need you there Jace!" Izzy shrieks as she follows me down the stairs of our family mansion in Idris. "I need you to back up the story that I'm telling to Meliorn. Which is: I am moving to Antarctica because there is a bunch of demon activity there!"

"I thought we already sent reinforcements to Antarctica?" I question confusedly.

"Well duh!" she replies frustratedly. "I need you to make him think that they really are sending me there so I don't have to actually break up with him."

"No thanks." I grab an apple from the fridge and take a bite of it.

She glares at me, but then her face grows sad. "I just thought that you would help me. Especially since you broke that priceless artifact-"

"Okay! Fine," I interrupt. "I just never thought you would sink as low as blackmailing your own adopted brother. Thats just cold. Get it? Like Anarctica is cold?"

She rolls her eyes. "Your jokes get worse every day. Now, you need to wear something nice. I might be breaking up with him, but he thinks he is coming over to meet our family. So, we are going to say that the others couldn't make it."

"Wait. Why am I the only one who has to help?" I whine.

"Because you're the only one who I have leverage on at the moment," Izzy replies smugly.

I glare at her, but walk around the kitchen counter to give her a hug before I leave. "I'll see you tonight little sis."

She smiles sweetly as if she isn't evil. "See ya."

With that I walk out the door and towards the Hall of Accords.

I use the 5 minutes walk to think about what the meeting could possibly be about. The Consul wouldn't tell me anything about what was wrong because "I would tell people even though it's top secret." Which is probably true, but still. Sometimes these people gotta have faith in me. Oh who am I kidding I'm one of the least trustworthy people there is when it comes to secrets.

I walk into the Hall of Acoords, then into the Consul's office, and sit in my usual seat that I take when I have meetings here. I tap my fingers softly as I wait for the Consul, and turn as the door opens.

My eyes narrow when I see that it isn't the Consul It's _her._


	2. Chapter 2

**Just so you all know, there will be no actual Clace (like kissing and stuff, there will be flirting of course) for a while. So it will be a few more chapters before anything even starts to happen.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Cassandra Clare, an evil genius.**

Clary POV

Goldilocks and I glare at each other for a moment until Consul Blackthorne walks into the room. "Great! You're both here!" He then notices the looks we are giving each other. "Oh. I forgot about your rivalry..."

"There is no rivalry," Jace Herondale-Goldilocks- replys. "It's obvious I'm a better Shadowhunter than her."

"Oh yeah? Then why was I voted Shadowhunter of the Year for the past 5 years?" I ask angrily.

"Because people think it's sweet for a girl to win something that is usually meant for a guy. There are way too many softies out there."

"Whatever." I turn my attention to the Consul. "Why is he here? I thought you were going to give me a mission."

"Well, you see Clarissa... it's not just your mission. You and Jace are going to be working... together." He shifts awkardly waiting for my and Blondie's reaction.

I whip my head over towards Jace to see him smirking. "Guess we're partners," he says smugly.

I turn away before I can punch him square in the jaw. "What do we have to do? I want to get it over with."

"Since John Carstairs has escaped the Silent City-"

"Wait," Jace interrupts, "who is he again?"

I groan and face palm. "First, he killed everyone in the London Institute 10 years ago, then, we found his wife dead a year later. He also murdered a few innocent children shadowhunters. He got sloppy with the last one, and we caught him. He has been in the Silent City Prison for 8 years, and his daughter, Emma Carstairs has been a foster kid ever since." I glare at Jace. "Does that clear it up?"

His face lights up. "Oh yeah! I remember him. I was at his trial. He's a really sucky person."

The Consul and I both roll our eyes. "What you and Clarissa are going to have to do is simple really. You are going to play the part of a married couple, and you are going to pretend to adopt Emma Carstairs. By doing this, it will be easy for you to protect her in case her father comes for her. Remember, she knows nothing of the Shadow World, she only knows her father murdered her mother. Whenever we catch her dad again, she will go back into foster care, and you two can go back to your reuglar lives. Questions?"

"Yes," Jace says immediately. "Do I really have to pretend to be married to her?"

Consul Blackthorne nodded. "Clarissa?"

"What will happen to Emma when her father is caught?"

"I told you, she will go back into the foster care system."

"That's not fair!" I exclaim angrily. "She will think she has finally been adopted, finally has a family, and then she will find out that it was all a lie. Think of how devastated she will be. You can't do that to a young girl."

The Consul stands there, stunned. "Well, uh, um, if you want to help her after the mission, then I guess you can."

"Okay. Give me her file," I say. Consul Blackthorne hands Jace and me the files, and we look over them quickly. "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow," the Counsul replies. "You get the rest of the day to go to the house we are providing for you, get used to it, and learn to act civil towards each other. You are a married couple, remember?" He gives us the address and walks out the door, leaving me and Jace alone.

"I only have until dinner to learn to be a good person," Jace says after a few moments of silence. "My sister blackmailed me into helping her break up with her boyfriend, and I have go eat dinner with them to carry out the plan."

"Same here. But I don't have a sister that needs help breaking up with a guy. I actually don't have a sister at all. But I am having dinner with my freind Simon."

"Simon?" he questions with his eyebrows raised. "Is that your boyfriend or something?" he teases.

I roll my eyes. "No, he's just my best friend."

"Oh that's right," he says nodding, "how would you have a boyfriend?"

With that, I storm out of the office, not caring if Jace follows or not.

"So I'm gonna need to know the basics about you if we are going to be 'married'," Jace says as he takes a sip of his Mountain Dew. We are sitting in a booth at the Grille, waiting for our food to come.

"Well, my favorite color is teal, my best friends are Simon Lewis and Magnus Bane, I love music from 2010-2020-especially Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, and I hate you," I respond with a fake smile on my face.

He smirks. "You love me and you know it."

I glare at him. "No, actually I don't. You love yourself and you know it, and you aren't able to step away from the mirror long enough to see how much people really despise you."

He looks seriously taken aback. "Wow. Uh..." he trails off uncofortably. I never thought I would live to see Jace Lightwood with a look of hurt on his face.

"Sorry," I say sheepishly. "I didn't really mean that. I just don't like you. And I bet all the girls that work in the Clave are infatuated with you."

This seems to brighten him up again. "Yeah, actually they are. I get like 3 phone numbers a day." He smirks as usual, and I roll my eyes.

"Do you ever actually call any of them?" I ask amusedly.

He grins- not his regular smirk- and chuckles. "Only the feisty, sacrastic red-heads." He winks at me and I roll my eyes.

He looks out the window with a soft smile on his face. When he isn't smirking or flirting, he is actually beautiful, in an angelic kind of way. I like the way the sunlight bounces off his golden hair, and his eyes shine when he looks in the light-

"Clary?" Jace smirks as he realizes I was staring at him. "If you would like, I could pose and you could take a couple of pictures of me to stare at later."

I vow to never think that way about him again, glare; I've noticed I glare a lot when I'm around him. On most people, he seems to have the opposite effect. The girls are usually falling all over him, but I could never see him in that way. I have heard a lot of things about him, and multiple sources have confirmed the stories.

From everything I have heard, I have gathered this: he is a sexist pig who will sleep with any girl who he thinks is hot. Those types of men are _not_ my type, nor will they ever be.

I am interrupted from my thoughts when the waitress brings our food. Jace ordered a double hamburger meal with a side bowl of chilli and a large strawberry milkshake. I, being the picky eater I am, ordered the 5 piece chicken strips with fries, and a medium vanilla milkshake.

He finishes his meal withink five minutes, and has drank half of his milkshake by the time I am moving on to the last of my fries. He, being the annoying prick he is, steals a handful of fries, leaving only one left for me. "Seriously?" I question, annoyed.

"Sorry, didn't mean to be rude and only leave one left," he apologizes as he takes my last fry. "There. All better!" I sigh, and he tells me he has to use the restroom.

While he is gone, I decide to get revenge by squriting ketchup and mustard into his milkshake, and then putting in a little salt and pepper too.

When Blondie is back, he picks up his milkshake, takes a sip, and spits it out immediately. All. Over. Me.

He of couse finds this extremely funny, and decides to take a picture of me with strawberry milkshake all over my face. "You aren't very good with revenge are you? Good try though," he says through his laughter as I wipe the drink off my face.

With that, I storm out of the restaurant before he can see the huge smile on my face.


End file.
